Pages

Friday, June 21, 2013

When You Are Gone

This comic began as an initial sketch to illustrate an essay about the future of books. The essay offered a somewhat bleak view of the literary world to come - a publishing market controlled by devices and e-reading platforms with a dwindling readership and fewer opportunities for authors. Unfortunately, the essay was cancelled. I decided to finish the comic anyway. Maybe nostalgia for the printed word is premature and misguided, but I'll always prefer books in their traditional form.

Last week the headteacher of the school I work in gave away all the books in our school library, because the new building our school is moving into won't have a library, it will have a "resource centre" presumably with computers only. Teachers were rescueing armfulls of books to keep in our classrooms. When I tell people this they think I'm joking!

Love your work but I love my kindle because I can carry with me a bunch of different books to fit any mood. Also, it's introduced me to classics that I would probably take the time to check out or buy. Still, I always feel compelled to get paper copies of the books I really cherish.